This is an unofficial announcement of Commission Action.
Release of the full text of a Commission order
constitutes official action.
See MCI v. FCC. 516 F 2d 385 (D.C. Circ 1974)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 29, 2001

NEWS MEDIA CONTACT:
John Winston (202) 418-7450
Jwinston@fcc.gov

FCC AFFIRMS $88,000 FINE AGAINST SBC FOR FAILING TO COMPLY WITH MERGER
CONDITIONS

Washington, DC -Today, the Federal Communications Commission announced
that it has affirmed the $88,000 fine imposed by the Commission's
Enforcement Bureau in March 2001 against SBC Communications, Inc. for
violating reporting requirements that the Commission imposed pursuant
to its approval of the merger application of SBC and Ameritech Corp.

In the SBC/Ameritech Merger Order, the Commission required SBC to file
detailed monthly reports reflecting its performance in responding to
requests for facilities and services from its rivals and end-user
customers.

An audit report issued by SBC's independent auditor, along with the
underlying data in SBC's monthly filings, revealed that SBC used
incorrect benchmarks and excluded key data from the reports for a
period of up to 13 months.

In today's Order, the Commission rejected all of the defenses asserted
by SBC in its Application for Review. Most significantly, in affirming
the full amount of the fine imposed in the Forfeiture Order, the
Commission observed that, contrary to SBC's assertions of
``near-perfect'' compliance, almost 20 percent of SBC's reported data
for January 2000, was flawed. Thus, the Commission found that SBC had
willfully, substantially, and repeatedly failed to comply with the
merger conditions.

Action by the Commission, May 24, 2001, by Order on Review
(FCC 01-184).
Chairman Powell, Commissioners Ness, and Tristani.
Commissioner Furchgott-Roth dissenting and issuing separate statement.